Reviews of National Policies for Education: Higher Education in Egypt 2010

Reviews of National Policies for Education: Higher Education in Egypt 2010

--- OECD, The World Bank ---

In recent years, the Government of Egypt has driven major reforms for modernising the country. While the success of this effort depends heavily on the quality of education and skills of the population, Egypt’s higher education system has remained largely unchanged in this context.

Without a fundamental reform of the sector the country will face difficulties in improving its competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-based world, in providing for a larger and more diverse student population, and in reducing social inequalities.

This book represents an independent review of Egypt’s higher education system and focuses on areas in need of attention by policy makers and stakeholders, including system steering and institutional governance; student access to higher education; educational quality and effectiveness; research, development and innovation; and finance. It contains an analysis of the system and valuable recommendations which, taken together, represent a major programme of structural and cultural reform of Egyptian higher education over the decade to 2020.

Reviews of National Policies for Education: Higher Education in Egypt will be of interest to Egyptian policy makers and education professionals, as well as others involved in education policy and research.

Executive summary

The Egyptian higher system is not serving the country’s current needs well, and without far-reaching reform it will hold back Egypt’s economic and social progress.

To build and modernise the nation, the Government of Egypt has driven major reforms in macro-economic policy to attract foreign direct investment, monetary policy including floating the Egyptian pound, taxation reform, trade liberalisation including tariff reductions and international trade agreements, and public sector reform including privatisation of state-owned enterprises.

The higher education system remains unreconstructed in this context. It continues to produce largely for the economy of the past, and community expectations of it reflect outdated understandings of its role.

There is an imperative for fundamental reform of the Egyptian higher education system. This imperative arises from the combination of emerging pressures and accumulated dysfunctions.